December 16, 2022 — We’re zooming toward the end of 2022, so it’s hard to resist looking back to see which of the posts on ConscienHealth you read the most. We are grateful for the smart and diverse people who take the time to read what we post here. Seeing what captures your attention teaches us a thing or […]
September 16, 2022 — Twenty years ago in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Diabetes Prevention Program showed that intensive lifestyle coaching for weight control can cut the risk of diabetes for people with prediabetes by 58 percent over a period of three years. At the upcoming EASD meeting, Tim Garvey and colleagues will present an analysis 10-year […]
August 4, 2022 — Sometimes the hardest news to digest is no news. This was certainly the case yesterday for Novo Nordisk, the market leader in anti-obesity medicines. Their stock dropped by nearly 13 percent when the company told investors that there would be no news on the semaglutide SELECT study. So why was no news seemingly such big […]
August 4, 2021 — Bariatric surgery provides a benefit for reducing risks to heart health. This has been pretty clear for years now. Still, utilization remains low because the procedure seems daunting to many who need it. But a recent study suggests that an anti-obesity medicine – orlistat – might also reduce risks to heart health. In the European […]
November 9, 2019 — We’ve had our full dose of Las Vegas. But ObesityWeek has given us more to think about than shows and casinos. With record attendance of 5,800, it was more than any one person could absorb. No doubt, everyone has returned home with a different experience from ObesityWeek. So here are our ten top take-home messages. […]
September 4, 2019 — Is some knowledge ever enough? A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association begs that question. Researchers found that patients with diabetes and obesity were less likely to die or have other major bad outcomes if they have bariatric surgery. The list of bad outcomes includes heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, kidney […]
November 14, 2018 — On Tuesday in Nashville, Steven Nissen delivered the opening keynote lecture. From beginning to end, he told us, obesity is all about the heart. “Heart disease is how obesity kills most of our patients,” he said. “It is still the leading cause of death, and we’re going to have to tackle this.” Halting Progress Against Heart […]
November 12, 2018 — Ever since the first bariatric surgeries emerged in the 1950s, the public has been skeptical. Bariatric surgeons found themselves in a box. Labels were a problem. Conceived as weight loss surgery, surgeons quickly figured out that it was doing more than causing people to lose weight. So they started calling it metabolic surgery, too. ASBS […]
November 11, 2018 — It’s here. From all over the world, roughly 5,000 surgeons, clinicians, scientists, and scholars are pouring into Nashville for OW2018. They’ll spend an entire week examining everything we know about obesity. ConscienHealth already served up a top 10 list. But even better than that, here’s a view from the the head of the class. TOS […]
July 29, 2017 — Almost ten years ago, FDA set a new hurdle for approving new diabetes drugs. Before one of these new drugs could be approved, the sponsoring company would need an expensive cardiovascular safety study. How expensive? The price tag might run as high as a billion dollars. FDA laid this same requirement on new obesity drugs, […]
